Of Dolls and Cherries
by SulpiciaDoesntApprove
Summary: Aro decides to help Jane relive some of her lost childhood. But of course things never go exactly as planned...
1. Dolls

_**This is a one-shot requested by Estelle Rabon, her fic**__** "Executioners" was one of the winners of the "Volturi fanfic contest". She asked for a fic where Aro plays a childish game with Jane, humoring her. Something cute with a… certain twist. ;P Of course, I couldn't help adding some angst.**_

_**Sooo… while Jane is mentally an adult and has to be one almost all the time, she sometimes longs to get her lost childhood back as well. There are a lot of things that were taken away from her and she probably never had the chance to be a real child anyway. Aro feels kind of bad about that. And (also because he is a big child deep down himself) he decides to help Jane relive some of her childhood.**_

_**And no, they are not a couple. They just hold hands because… because it is cute and they care for each other. It is a family thing, I guess. Well, not "family" as in "we are like father and daughter", but as in "platonic affection". **_

_**Told in third person, but from Aro's point of view. He is just so much fun to write. Especially because he tends to shape reality to his liking**__**, see what he wants to see and lie even to himself when necessary. Keep that in mind while reading. ;P**_

---

Jane holds his hand in her small one and they walk at a slow human pace. _We must be a funny view, _he thinks amused, _a little girl, too old to hold her parent's hand but too young for a boyfriend, and a grown-up man, obviously not her brother but not her father either, walking hand in hand._ The old, wrinkly woman they meet on their way looks away quickly again.

It is an overcast day, too windy for most humans to take a walk here outside the city walls.

Aro rarely leaves the castle, but it is not like anyone would dare to attack him and Jane out here anyway. Besides, Caius is perfectly capable of keeping the guards in check for a few hours, or they him, depending on how you look at it, they are not children.

Jane tugs on his hand and leads him to a small pond hidden behind a small hill. They are near her old village now, Aro remembers clearly even after all those centuries. "Alec and I used to play here sometimes," she says, looking over the muddy water at their feet, "when we were children." She wears a thoughtful expression on her angelic face.

He just wants to see her smile.

When he saw her in her room this morning, just before dawn, she looked so sad. She was sitting cross-legged on her narrow bed she never uses, her stuffed animals and dolls arranged around her neatly. They are only props, he knows better than anyone else. He knows she only pretends to play with dolls because that is what everyone expects her to do. There are very few people who see more than just Jane the evil little girl.

She has the keen, mature mind of an adult and the small, androgynous body of a child.

She is neither child nor woman.

For an eternity.

"Why so sad, my dear?" he asked her, although he knew the reason perfectly well.

He picked up a ridiculously big, white plush bunny from her bed, tossed it in the corner and then sat down next to her. She slipped her small hand in his to let him read her thoughts.

_Sometimes I wish I could be a real child again. If only for a day._

He kissed her forehead lightly, that usually makes her grin like a Cheshire cat.

Not today though. She just sighed and leaned against his chest and he could have sworn she was taking in his scent.

Well, he decided that he should do something to cheer her up a little. "You want to be a child today?" he asked, smiling down at her, "I think that can be arranged." And with that he grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Get some inconspicuous clothes. We are going outside," he announced.

Jane's apathetic face lit up and she sounded suddenly excited. "Really?"

"Yes," he said. "Now get your things or I might change my mind." He chuckled quietly to himself.

Anything to make her happy.

She releases his hand and walks over to the water. Her plain, ivory dress is blowing in the wind as she stands there, watching the water ripple. If she were human, she would surely be cold, she only wears a light grey sweater over the dress.

She picks up a pebble and takes a closer look at it in her palm before she puts it in her pocket.

Aro watches her as she is picking up pebbles and pieces of wood, judging every single one carefully before she either puts it down again or in one of her pockets. He hasn't quite figured out her system behind it yet, it seems that she is just picking out idly what she considers pretty or worth keeping.

There is still something left of the innocent little human girl from all those centuries ago.

He goes to stand next to her.

"I feel like I've missed out on so much," she says, her eyes following the small circles on the dark water, "I think I've missed almost my entire childhood, you know?" She looks back at him, biting her lower lip. "Of course you know."

He knows indeed. He was the one who took it away from her.

No, I mean, already before…" she is quick to explain as she sees his face, "I don't blame you, how could I? I gained so much with this new life…"

"But you still miss your childhood," he says. It is a statement, not a question.

She doesn't answer for a while. When she finally speaks again, her voice is small. "I miss just _living_, not having to worry about anything. I miss being naïve and silly and nice or _wicked_ whenever I want to." The rough wind blows strands of her lank, pale brown hair in her face. "And I _hate_ to be like this – she gestures at her androgynous body – I hate being a doll. I hate the fact that I can't be childish without being called immature, or be like an adult without being told that I am too young for these things..."

He puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but she hasn't said everything yet.

"I've never had the chance to be completely careless," she exclaims, "I never had anyone who really loved me besides my brother. I've never even had a _real_ first kiss!" She takes a deep breath, not looking at him.

And what should he say to that?

"No real childhood but no adolescence either?" she whispers angrily and throws a pebble in the water. Her large eyes are full of badly concealed sadness. "Is that supposed to be fair?"

"But you still remember," he says, lifting her chin up with his finger, "I don't. I barely remember anything of my childhood, and the few memories I still have are blurry and weak." He makes her look at him, ignoring her thoughts. "So please don't be sad, my dear Jane. I know it is not the same, but somehow I've missed my childhood a little as well." He smiles at her, hoping that will make her do the same.

A girl like Jane should never be sad.

"How old are you anyway?" she blurts out but then immediately seems to regret her bold words. "I mean, how old were you approximately when you were turned, you know?" she adds, chewing on her lower lip.

Her expression makes him laugh. "I don't remember exactly," he says earnestly, "maybe twenty-four, twenty-five? I was still naïve anyway."

"I see," she says quietly and keeps on chewing on her lip absentmindedly, "so not more than ten, eleven years older than me then."

"No," is his short answer.

Jane nods slowly.

She starts questioning him about his past then.

She wants to know everything, everything he can remember. His favorite food, the names of his siblings, what his home was like, … She is such an inquisitive, keen girl and to every answer she has a new question. He realizes that they have barely talked about things like these before, they barely have the chance to ever talk about light-hearted, personal matters or be their true selves.

It is sad, really, in a way. They should do this more often.

He questions her about her childhood as well. He already knows from her memories, of course, but he wants to hear it from her lips, wants the explanations and feelings behind them.

Jane throws a pebble in the muddy water from time to time.

Her short hair is tousled from the wind and Aro wonders idly what would have become of her if she had had the chance to grow older.

"You know what we could do?" she asks, interrupting his thoughts, and looks up at him with her wide, childlike eyes.

Simply reading her thoughts would be the easiest way to find out… But he is sure she will tell him in less than half a minute judging from the smile playing around her full lips.

She waits, not giving away anything.

His brows furrow just so slightly. "What, my dear?" he asks, curious.

Jane laughs at his impatient scowl. "See that cherry tree over there?" she says and points at the horizon. Against the grey sky stands an old, gnarled tree with dark red fruits.

"Yes," he says, "what about it?"

Jane's face lits up. "Come, I'll show you something," she says and before he knows what is happening, they are running, Jane pulling him along by his hand.

---

_**Um, yeah. It was planned as a one-chaptered one-shot, but I got carried away and since I have a very short attention span and know at least some other people who do as well, I decided to split this up in two parts. So it is going to be a two-chaptered one-shot. The second chapter will be up soon**__** (hopefully) and is going to be called "Cherries". **_


	2. Cherries

_**So…**__** after a loooong time of procrastinating because I had to deal with an incredibly stubborn and difficult paragraph… this is the second part.**_

_**It took me quite a while to figure out a game for them to play, until I remembered that I used to have "cherry stone spitting contests" with my family when I was little. Cherry trees grow in Italy since Roman times, so there you go. **_

_**No innuendos.**_

_**Jane and Aro might be a little out of character, but I think the two of them can be childish and informal when nobody else sees it. Aro would do almost everything to humor Jane, Jane trusts him almost completely. They deserve some fluff.**_

---

Jane releases his hand and takes a few steps towards the tree.

She looks at the ripe cherries hanging up in the leaves appraisingly and Aro wonders what is on her mind.

He waits.

She picks two good handfuls of cherries and then spreads out her sweater on the grass and sits down on it, sitting on her legs.

"Alec and I used to play this game whenever we could steal away some cherries," she explains and arranges her dress to cover her porcelain legs, "not getting caught was part of it." She looks up at him. "Sit down," she says and pats the grass next to her, "I'll explain it to you."

And how could he deny her anything?

He sits down next to her, resisting the urge to read her thoughts. It is nicer to just hear her talk, talk with an enthusiasm and happiness she rarely ever shows when others are around.

She takes a red fruit from the small pile by her feet and puts it in her mouth.

What is she doing? Certainly she isn't...

Her expectant expression turns into a grimace as she bites down.

"Ugh," she spits the cherry out in the grass, "they don't taste as good as they used to."

"Naturally," he chuckles at her puzzled expression.

What did she expect?

The strong contrast between her mature, grave sobriety and naïve, childlike dreaminess makes her really adorable sometimes. Never adorable like a doll though. Never in a way that would keep him from taking her seriously.

"It is delicious but… not," she muses and then looks up at him. "Have you ever eaten a cherry?" she asks him.

He shakes his head. "No, I haven't," he says. The cherry trees didn't use to grow here when he was human.

Jane picks up another dark red cherry, holds it by the green stem in between her thumb and index finger and puts it in his palm. She looks at him expectantly.

"You… you want me to eat _that_?" he asks skeptically, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes. Unless you are too afraid." She smiles at him widely. He is almost a hundred percent sure that is her way of paying back at him for laughing at her earlier.

He puts the cherry in his mouth with a mix of curiosity and disgust.

It doesn't taste bad. He bites down hesitantly and cherry juice fills his mouth. No, it tastes quite good actually. Sweet and sour and like something delicious he can't quite describe. It just doesn't taste _appetizing_. He gets what Jane means by 'delicious but not'. He bites down harder and can feel the cherry stone crumble between his teeth.

He spits out everything he has in his mouth, wishing he had something to rinse it out with.

Jane laughs. "You are not supposed to eat the stone!" she exclaims in disbelief and laughs harder, "we need that for the game!"

His eyes narrow.

"Okay, okay," she says, "here it how it works… you take a cherry in your mouth – she does so while speaking – suck out the stone and eat or, in our case, spit out the rest. Then you have only the cherrystone left in your mouth and you are supposed to spit it as far as possible. That's everything."

She spits out the stone she has in her mouth and sends it flying a good three hundred meters. "See?" she says and turns around to look at him triumphantly. Her eyes spark with enthusiasm.

He touches her palm and can see blurry pictures of Jane and Alec spitting cherry stones, challenging each other and Jane winning. Alec rolling his eyes and smiling at her affectionately, Jane grinning wickedly, her little heart-shaped faced smeared with cherry juice.

This is what childhood looks like.

Jane and Aro continue taking cherries in their mouths, separating the stone from the flesh and juice and spitting the stones as far as possible.

It turns into a contest soon.

Jane is ahead, if only by a few meters. Although they both have excellent reflexes and body control, Jane still has the experience and advantage of having played this game before.

But of course he isn't going to let her win just like that.

It is almost too easy to distract her.

"Cheater!" she exclaims and glares at him, pushing her small fingers in his chest accusingly.

But Aro shakes his head. "We didn't make any rules, my dear," he smirks, "so technically, it isn't cheating."

"You…" Jane says but then her façade drops. She starts laughing her tinkling bell laugh.

Her laugh is truly lovely.

He can't resist trying to tickle her just to see her laugh harder.

Jane tries to push his arm away, but he is quicker and grabs her by the waist before she knows what is happening. She starts to protest, but he knows as well as her that her attempts are half-hearted. And as soon as he tickles the sensitive skin of her bare feet she is convulsing with laughter.

"Aro… master… be serious please!" she pants for air and then bursts out laughing again.

But right now he doesn't want to be serious for once.

He just can't help it. Caius and Sulpicia would call him a child and question his sanity if they saw him now, but Aro doesn't care. It feels right, being silly and childish with Jane.

A mischievous grin appears on Jane's angelic face and before he knows she is tickling him.

Two vampires, eating cherries and tickling each other. It must be the strangest sight ever.

"Are you happy?" he asks her, studying her angelic face carefully.

"Yes," she whispers. And smiles up at him.

Without thinking, he wipes some cherry juice from the corner of her red mouth with one finger.

She stops laughing.

She looks up at him, her eyes are large pools.

He wants to ask her what she is thinking, wants to know if the sadness is back or if she is suddenly bored with this children's game. But before he can do that, her small lips are pressed to his.

Her little nose touches his and her long lashes flutter against his cheek. Her ruby eyes are wide open, only inches away from his burgundy ones. Her small hands are folded in her lap awkwardly as if she didn't know where to put them. And he realizes only now what she is doing.

She is kissing him.

He is frozen, taken by surprise too much to react. Part of him registers that this kiss is very different from the innocent, platonic peck on the lips they usually share and he realizes that he should probably do something about that. But he doesn't. Somehow the command to stir doesn't make it to his limbs nor consciousness and he stays completely motionless.

Her lips taste like cherry, cinnamon rolls and faintly like blood.

She presses her lips to his harder and to his own dismay he gives in slightly, his lips parting.

Her lips are plump and soft and not childlike at all against his.

He puts one hand to her slender neck, the other wanders to her small waist. Only to bring some distance in between them gently but determinedly, of course.

A small sigh escapes her sweet little mouth and she throws her skinny arms around his neck, leaning forward and pressing her slender body to his, her eyelids fluttering close.

_Way__ too close._

_Not close enough._

He knows he has to stop this now, has to stop her.

_Or else…_

He gets hold of her wrists and her thoughts register with him as soon as his fingers touch her skin. Her thoughts are an onslaught of jumbled and tattered fragments of… _things_ and emotions.

He loosens her grip on him gently but quickly and pulls away to look at her.

"What are you doing, my dear?" he asks calmly, pretending to not have a clue about her intentions.

She doesn't say anything.

She just turns away, pulling her sweater on again and the hood up over her short hair, hiding her face. And then she starts running again, back to Volterra.

He sighs and follows her.

She doesn't say a single word about it on their entire way back and he doesn't either.

It is better to just leave it, forget it, never bring it up again.

He knows he has upset her, he knows that she thinks the only reason why he didn't pull away immediately was because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. He'll leave her in that thought, of course. Because how could he ever love her? She is just a guard, she is just a little girl, she is just Jane.

He is not being completely honest though.

Even he has to realize that, although he won't acknowledge it.

Because if he said he didn't kiss her back just a little, that would be a lie.

---

_**Hope you like it!**__** Because Sully sure as hell wouldn't. ;P**_

_**AND THE FRIGHTENINGLY ACCUARATE SYMBOLISM WASN'T ON PURPOSE! **__**Okay, it was here and there, but not everywhere… I only realized later what muddy ponds, girls in ivory dresses and cherries stand for in symbolism.**_


End file.
